Many years ago in a place rather far away, my parents decided to take a camping trip in my grandmothers 19 foot trailer. This was about 1960 so travel trailers were not the wonders of constriction or features that abound today. We lived in Butte Montana then and about 80 miles away was a reservoir called Canyon Ferry, it’s still there by the way.
So parents and 4 kids piled into the Rambler station wagon and off we went. Upon reaching the reservoir it was decided that we would go to the last campground on the east shore.
In those days and I guess today still, road designers think that they can save lots of miles of construction by building the road down into the draws and back up to the ridge. This particular stretch of road was worse than most. The uphill portions were really up hill, so much so that we had to help shove the car and trailer up the hills. We ended up with all the people behind us that couldn’t get by also helping.
Upon our eventual arrive at the campground, exhausted and covered in dust, we discovered the worst. My grandmother had loaded the cupboards with her everyday plates etc. Those cupboards had no secure latches and all the glassware within was on the floor in a broken mess.
So that was my first experience with RVing, which in those days was not RVing. Oh, and I don’t remember how we got the trailer out of there but is was a lot lighter with all the glassware out of there. The next time I was on that road, a couple years later with some high school friends, there was a large sign at the beginning of that road that simply said, “No Trailers Beyond This Point.” No kidding!
Submitted by Mike Whitmore of Cheyenne, WY as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest.
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